Eye closure
1 min 30[This sequence is brisk. Use a clear, ordinary instructing voice rather than a slow relaxation voice. Explain the eye test and get the client's agreement before you begin, and tell them that neither this nor a recording of it is for use while driving or operating machinery.]
Take a long breath in, and hold it for a moment. And as you let it go, let your eyes close, and let your body relax. [pause for 5 seconds]
Now put your attention on the small muscles around your eyes. Let them relax so completely that they simply do not want to work. [pause for 10 seconds]
And when you are sure they are that relaxed, test them. Try to open them, and notice that they would rather stay closed. Test them now. [pause for 10 seconds]
When the test does not hold
1 min 30[Fluttering lids with no opening is a pass. If the eyes open, nothing has gone wrong and the client has not failed — say so in a level voice, read the second block and run the relaxation once more. If it does not hold on the second attempt, move on to the arm relaxation without comment; the rest of the sequence still works. Never insist a client's eyes are stuck when they plainly are not.]
Good. You can stop testing now, and let that relaxation spread down from your eyes through the whole of your face. [pause for 10 seconds]
That is useful to know. Plenty of people need a second pass at this one. Let the eyes close again, and this time let those muscles go so loose that testing them feels like more effort than it is worth. And test them now. [pause for 15 seconds]
Either way, you are relaxed enough to carry on from here, and that is all we needed. [pause for 5 seconds]
Physical relaxation and the arm check
1 min 30[The arm drop is a check on looseness, not a performance. Lift the wrist only an inch or two and support it. If the arm holds itself up, ask for the whole weight of it and try once more, then move on regardless.]
Let that same relaxation flow down through your neck and your shoulders, down your arms, all the way out to your fingertips. [pause for 15 seconds]
In a moment I am going to lift your hand and let it go, and you can let it fall as though it belonged to somebody else. [pause for 15 seconds]
Now, in a moment, open your eyes and close them again, and as they close let that relaxation double. Open. And close. Twice as relaxed as you were. [pause for 15 seconds]
The number fade
2 min[The instruction is to relax the numbers away, not to push them out. If the client says the numbers are still there, that is a report and not a failure — thank them, take one more pass, and continue either way. Do not tell a client what they experienced.]
In a moment you are going to count backwards out loud, starting at one hundred. And with each number you say, you can double your mental relaxation. As you double it, the numbers will begin to fade. [pause for 5 seconds]
Start with one hundred, out loud. [pause for 10 seconds]
Good. Double that relaxation, and say the next one. [pause for 20 seconds]
Now let them go. Let the rest of the numbers relax themselves right out of your mind, until there is nothing left there to count. [pause for 20 seconds]
Handover and re-alerting
1 min 30[Read the first block to move into the work you have planned. If you are finishing here, read the count up in a rising, ordinary voice, and keep the client sitting with their eyes open for a full minute before they stand.]
That is a good, comfortable place to work from. Stay just as you are, and we will begin what we talked about. [pause for 10 seconds]
And to bring you all the way back, I am going to count from one to five. At five your eyes will open and you will be wide awake, alert and clear-headed. [pause for 5 seconds]
One. The room coming back around you. Two. Feeling returning to your hands and your feet. Three. Move your fingers and your toes. Four. Your eyes ready to open. And five. Eyes open, wide awake, fully alert. [pause for 10 seconds]
Take a moment. Stay sitting until you feel entirely yourself again.